Titanium skid blocks on the corners of the rear hitch for all the white hot spark glory!

Installed and calibrated the new O2 sensor along with the heat sink today. I went with a Bosch oem sensor this time (my LC2 came with a 4.9 sensor, so it was the Bosch 17025 for me ).

3 copper washers were required to orient my heat sink appropriately into the exhaust flow. I would like to have found a way to use the included stainless steel washer, for lower heat transfer, but couldn't get it to work.

 

Bodywork Bros - are these holes small enough just to Bondo up? Or do I need to figure out a way to get a mesh backer in there. No direct access to the back of these holes.

 

That's borderline for sure for Bondo only. I would still do it, but that's just me. If I was doing this, here is what I would do:

Rough it up real good with 80 grit or thereabouts
Come in with the Bondo with the first 2 +/-1 layers just aiming to gently shrink the hole
Close up with hole with a layer and then sand it down flat
Lay on the last layer and I've a 4 inch round area so you can sand it super smooth

I'm pretty sure that would hold

 

It's got that orange peel finish all around it, still do a 4 inch area?

 

Probably 4 inches is too extreme, but what you'll want to end up with is a thin layer of Bondo tapering from over the hole to a small area around it so there's some structure there. It's a bit hard to explain using just words so I made a shaky little video.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whB3...ature=youtu.be

 

So. I over thought this bodywork for way too long. "I have to have some sort of mesh backing!"

Then I had knee surgery on the left knee at the end of November, then I got hellaciously sick from my 12 year old early January (******* pnuemonia, or some sort of death pre-pubescent man flu, or something) that laid me out until late February.

And I mean laid out. A vicious cough. Light headed. Like you're not all there. And late January I'm at the kitchen sink, and I realize "oh, hey, all the blood is leaving my brain." So I bend over at the sink. Then I decide to move to the dining room table and sit down, and the blood continues to not want to be in the upper regions of my body.

This is happening at 9:20am. Ms Mobius needs to leave for work for her 10am shift at 9:30.

Ms Mobius, the ER Doctor, says, a couple of times, " You need to LAY DOWN, if you fall, I don't think I can catch you." (I'm 6'2 180, she's 5'7 125). So at that point, I'm like "ok, **** it, I'ma lay here on the dining room floor." I do so. I follow instructions.

Ms Mobius asks, "Are you ok?"

I reply, "Yes."

She says, "Are you sure?"

I reply, "Yes. I'll just lay here for a while. I'll be ok."

She asks again, "Are you sure?"

I say, "Yes."

She then says : "OK. I got to go to work. Bye!"

And leaves for work. Leaving her spouse, who literally almost lost consciousness twice in the last two minutes, laying on the floor.

I got better.

Then I over thought it some more.
Again with the "I have to have some sort of mesh backing!"
"I need to make a tool to allow me to insert the mesh backing, covered with JB weld or RTV or something!"
"I better make a tool to scrape the **** out of the inside of the surface so that other **** will stick!"
Then I just said **** it and did it.

Mixed up some bondo, stuffed it in with a screwdriver and popsicle stick, let it dry, and sanded it down:





Primered it, then put some Dr. Colorchip 22A on it, let it dry, and pulled the tape off:




Makes for a decent 10 footer that doesn't have please rust the **** out of me rain holes:




So overall I'm very pleased. Obviously, it needs more attention. The initial pass with Dr Colorchip was just to get some paint on it. I'll spend some more time on it, along with more time on the rest of the lower sills, which despite having been underneath the tupperwear are really quite wrecked. It's a track toy and autocross toy first, but I can make it look better without too much effort.

I haven't done any further real mods yet. I need to re work the airflow so that the radiator is actually getting some now that the intercooler is in place. Beyond that, Singular wing and front splitter are again on the short list, along with getting a full 3" exhaust on it, and upgrading MS3 firmware and moving to closed loop boost control rather than simply controlling solenoid duty cycle.

I drove the car yesterday and today for the first time since October. I need to drive it more. The car is awesome. At current power levels it's imminently behaved. Today was a Driver Skills Instruction Day thrown by our local autocross club. At the end of the day when Instructors got to hoon their cars through the sample autocross course, the young lady that rode with me for a couple of demo laps was giddy with excitement. Now, granted, this is on my Wan Li chinese super-special all seasons that Curly put on the car 3 years ago, so grip levels are maybe 60% of potential. But I deliberately left the rear bar connected for maximum hoon potential, and hooning was properly appreciated. And god damn if hooning isn't a **** TON OF FUN.

And speaking of hooning .... today was about car control. Not billed as a "Learn To Autocross Day" but as a "Driver Skills Clinic." Of 40 students, 18 were complete first time newbs.

During all of their runs, the occasional cone was hit, but overall they were very clean.

During Instructor runs at the end of the day, I was first in line. Parked my car at the start line with the engine idling.

My first run? Massive oversteer. Massive rev limiter. Massive hoonage. Cones hit ? ZERO.

Next instructor? Cones hit - SEVEN.

I mean, the instructor group was the worst. There were no ********. Cones flew everywhere. It was an orange massacre.

About what I expected, which was why I went first. Second run the course was still ok. Third run ? The final slalom was completely destroyed. But I had my fun, and it was a good day.

 

ER doc algorithm.

'Is the patient actively dying?'

If yes, then make them not die till they become someone elses problem.
If no, then theyre someone elses problem.

 

I can confirm your proposed algorithm with multiple life experiences.

 

Mobius, a little blood leaking from your head is no excuse for this taking so long.

 

Man. It's like everybody here talks to my wife. That's ok, I've had almost 21 years to adjust to no sympathy, so I expect none from you guys. Bring it.

Actually, I think one of the main problems is actual lack of actual blood leakage. That's easy to diagnose. That's relevant. That's undeniable. That's ... "this **** is real."

Meniscus tears are not so obvious. To you, the pain is real and undeniable. To others, perhaps they say something like "You did not just tear your knee walking into the grocery." Which, in fact, I had, after having initially injured it in a snowboarding fall the winter before.

 

Haha ive done a few shifts but i want to work with crazy people!

 

So while I was composing the earlier summary for you guys, Ms Mobius was walking the dogs, and this happened to some poor Lyft driver in my neighborhood. She's high sided on what's known as a bioswale. These are plant-filled curbside constructions that precede the drainage into the sewer. The plant life provides initial filtration for storm runoff that then enters the sewer system. Portland has spent Billions with a B on sewer system awesomeness the past 20 years. Big *** tunneling machines the past 10 years have created Big *** tunnels into which storm runoff is now stored to be queued up into the filtration plants. The sewer system here, like most urban areas, is combined for actual sewer and for storm runoff. Until the Big Pipes came online, rain runoff regularly caused sewage overflows into the local river systems. Now that's mosly under control. These Bio Swales are a part of that.

This Lyft driver hugged the curb too tight, and ended up driving into and then partially through a bio swale:




I looked, and I thought, but there was nothing I could do to help her.

Major problem is that as the car faces, that is a slope uphill. I cannot use any type of floor jack due to the slope.

a) I can't jack up her car due to slope
b) even if I could jack the front of her car high enough to get her front wheel onto pavement, she's still almost certainly high sided on curbing
c) I can't jack up her car due to slope

This was literally 100ft from my front door. I felt bad for her. Then I came inside and had a beer and typed this out for you guys.

Edit: the downside of the "Early Apex!"

 

Yes, but which beer? You cant go around omitting key details like that...

 

BAM

Ninkasi Hop Cooler Citrus IPA: https://www.ratebeer.com/beer/ninkas...us-ipa/386577/

It checks ALL MY MOTHERFUCKING BOXES

7+ %? CHECK (ok, not actually a box for me, but whatever)

BIG CITRUS FINISH? CHECK

GOOD MALT TO IBU BALANCE? CHECK ( so many IPA's now are all about "I'ma motherfucking double or triple lots of ABV lots of IBU, I got this". I like actual flavor, not how much bitter can I stomach

And, was it available for $99 for a 1/2 barrel?

I repeat, was it available for $99 FOR A HALF BARREL? MOTHERFUCKING CHECK

It is a new favorite, one of my top beers now. Bridgeport original IPA is still a favorite, at 5% now to be considered a session beer.
Boneyard RPM IPA. 6.8%, Very tasty, and it's called RPM I mean come on?
And this guy. Super tasty, super drinkable. Super drinkable. Loves it.

 

It was on special at my local super-awesome-I-just-found-them Mega Beer Distributor. Maletis Beverage. Anyone in the Portland / VancouverWA area that has a draft system should use them. I last used a smaller local shop, and paid much more for a 1/2 barrel of RPM.

For $99 a half barrel, I will happily explore new frontiers in my beer tasting. I mean, god damn, that's like Coors Light prices.

 

Damn. I feel guilty. I owe MT.net more updates, and more specifically more updates to my car. Will do.

And I will do so with an appropriate amount of beer consumption.

 

THE PEOPLE DEMAND ANSWERS!!!

LIKE... WHEN WILL YOU AND SOTH DRUNK TAKE OVER A THREAD???

 

Who is this Soth person, and why would I need them to drunk take over a thread?? I am fully capable of this on my own.

Girl I got powers under alcoholic persuasion like you wouldn't believe.

 

You could have pulled her off with your Miata and a tow rope!

--Ian

 

Nigelt don't get sarcasm, so taking literally.

https://www.miataturbo.net/build-thr...k-ultra-85108/